Congress cries foul over tax raids in Bengaluru

New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) The Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP of indulging in “political vendetta” after tax raids were carried out at a Karnataka minister’s residence and at a private resort near Bengaluru, housing 44 Congress lawmakers from Gujarat.

Income Tax officers early on Wednesday raided the official residence of Karnataka Power Minister D.K. Shivakumar and the Eagleton Golf Resort at which the Gujarat MLAs have been lodged since Saturday.

Lashing out at the BJP, senior Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge told reporters: “It’s political vendetta. When the elections are going on then raids at their premises is not good.”

Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters: “This is a very dirty trick of the BJP to win the Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat.”

“Earlier attempts were made to bribe the Gujarat Congress MLAs. And when everything failed, the frustrated BJP government was now resorting to IT raids on the Congress,” Surjewala said.

A raid was also being conducted at the house of Congress lawmaker N. Ravi in Bengaluru’s southern suburb.

The Gujarat MLAs were flown to Bengaluru from Ahmedabad and lodged in the posh resort at Bidadi, about 30 km from Bengaluru, ostensibly to prevent the BJP from poaching them ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha by-poll in which its senior leader Ahmed Patel is contesting for the fifth term from Gujarat.

“BJP is on an unprecedented witch-hunt just to win one Rajya Sabha seat,” Patel said in a tweet.